Any advice following GP refusal to do oral glucose tolerance test

[Em16]

Hi, thank you to people who have helped me so far re: not wanting to lose any more weight when eating low carb diet. I have upped my snacks and got stuck into the high fats and my weight is steadying now which is great. My glucose readings are good providing I steer clear of the carbs/keep them very low.

However, the GP has refused me an oral glucose tolerance test, despite that I can see that carbs (even a small amount) send my readings into the diabetic range. She said I couldn't be diabetic because I wasn't overweight (!!) that the OGTT was only used for pregnant women and to wait and repeat the hb1ac which previously put me in the prediabetic range. I think its possible that the next hb1ac will be good (due to my LCHF diet ) and completely miss the fact that I am intolerant to carbs/glucose....which I think would mean I can't access any support from my gp/health care system. Does anyone have any advice for when I go to my next appointment for a second opinion? Thanks again for all previous help!! Also, I've posted this on a reply elsewhere....sorry if you've read it twice...I'm still getting the hang of how it all works on here!!

 

[Brunneria]

Oh, I hear you.

My doc no longer monitors my blood glucose at all. They seem to have wiped me off their awareness, since my blood glucose levels dropped dramatically on LCHF. One doc was very clear that he considered my blood glucose concerns to be ludicrous, despite being ‘pre-diabetic’ for upwards of 15 years, with multiple glucose tolerance tests. Apparently with 1 HbA1c below 42, I am no longer at any risk.

Yeah, right.

I know that eating a moderate carb diet would have my blood glucose rising rapidly to T2 levels, because my own blood glucose monitoring has shown this to be the case.

So I self fund my bg monitoring, and pay privately for other blood tests, and am confident that my dietary choices are the best things for my health, even though the NHS has dropped me off their monitoring schedule.

One of the perils of taking responsibility for my health, educating myself, and making conscious informed choices.

 

[Lotties]

Mine refused as well. Would not engage in any conversatile except to say the HbA1c was the gold standard and I could have that repeatedly about every 3 months. I think perhaps cost and the local Clinical Commissioning Group may be an influence as the test is expensive. There's a thread from 2011 on this site you may wish to search that discusses options covering the same ground. I would link but haven't worked out how yet.

 

[Em16]

Thanks for that - it might be that there's little support/help available or worth having then anyway. Clearly though, you've both looked after your needs well despite this. Have you both been ok with cholesterol? That is my other lurking worry eating high fats as this was also raised alongside HbA1c.

 

[bulkbiker]

You can always do your own if you have a meter. A number of us have.
You can buy the rapilose drink online take finger pricks before and every 15 minutes on a quiet Sunday morning.
Some even live share the results...

https://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/should-this-be-the-ultimate-diet.125320/page-7

there you go.

 

[Brunneria]

Thanks for that - it might be that there's little support/help available or worth having then anyway. Clearly though, you've both looked after your needs well despite this. Have you both been ok with cholesterol? That is my other lurking worry eating high fats as this was also raised alongside HbA1c.

the more I learn about cholesterol, the less I worry about it.

last cholesterol test (privately paid for), my total figure was slightly above the national average, and my ratios were excellent.

I am very happy with that.

 

[Lotties]

Thanks for that - it might be that there's little support/help available or worth having then anyway. Clearly though, you've both looked after your needs well despite this. Have you both been ok with cholesterol? That is my other lurking worry eating high fats as this was also raised alongside HbA1c.

Along with others I don't worry about cholesterol.
When we were told to avoid it in food, I'd always believed that your body made extra if you didn't eat it to patch up damage. Not quite true but true enough not to worry about what extra cholesterol I ate. There are some good YouTube videos with graphics showing simple models for how lipids (fats) work.
Now I don't worry about NHS/pharmacy party line and check my cholesterol markers, i.e. remnant cholesterol, against lipid researchers information. I won't put a link on as I think people must do their own research as it is pretty complex.

 

[Em16]

Thank you all so much: you are a mine of information and I'm heartily glad I was sent to this website.